


I'm A Good Pretender

by NukaCoola



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Abuse, Angst, Anonymous Sex, Blood and Injury, Brotherhood of Steel (Fallout), Canon-Typical Violence, Depression, Drug Use, Dubious Consent, Emotional Baggage, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Friends to Lovers, Goodneighbor (Fallout), Hurt/Comfort, I'll probably edit these as I go, M/M, Multi, Mutual Pining, My first fic, Other, Past Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychological Trauma, Recreational Drug Use, Slow Burn, Smut, The Institute (Fallout), The Railroad (Fallout), Trauma, Violence, not really sure where it's going yet but WE'LL see
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-30
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:07:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22484617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NukaCoola/pseuds/NukaCoola
Summary: The SS wakes up in a nightmare world with no idea how to cope. For Deacon though, this vault dweller might be a dream come true.
Relationships: Deacon & Female Sole Survivor, Deacon & Sole Survivor (Fallout), Deacon/Female Sole Survivor, Deacon/Sole Survivor (Fallout), Fahrenheit/Glory (Fallout), John Hancock/Female Sole Survivor
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	1. The Sole Survivor

She felt the cold before she could feel herself breathe. It had seeped through her skin and now resided deep in her bones. She was confused. Where was she again? Everything was fuzzy, numb, and cold. Hell even her vision was blurry. As she started to regain her consciousness, she began to remember. She was in the Vault, Vault 111. The doctor he… he had guided her into a decontamination pod. Why was it so cold? Her eyes eventually adjusted and she could inspect her surroundings. She must have just finished the decontamination process. Surely the doctor would let them all out when they were all done. If what he had said was true, it should only take another minute or so. Then they would be ready to see their new home.   
She tried to lean forward to look out the frosted window of the pod but to her surprise her muscles did not seem to want to work. She felt stiff and sore and god why was it so cold? Her teeth began to chatter and her body shivered violently. Whatever, she decided to just look out to where she could see from her half sitting position. She could see Nate and her baby Shawn in the pod in front of her. His window too was frosted over. He didn't look conscious and neither did her baby. Maybe Vault-Tec had to knock them out for the decontamination. That would explain how she had woken up. It didn't explain the cold though. Why was it so fucking cold?   
A faint voice came over through the loud speakers. She was too cold to pay it any mind. Something about a malfunction? Maybe that's why it was so cold. Either way she didn't have time to mull over it because she heard voices walking down the decontamination tunnel. The doctors must be ready to let them out! She didn't want to think about why they were in this vault. She didn't want to think about anything right now. She just wanted to get out of this cold and hold her baby. Summoning all of her strength, she pushed herself up to the window with her stiff and weak arms. The people weren't who she was expecting. Neither of them in the vault suits or lab coats. There was one person who seemed to be in a white hazmat suit of some sort. That would make sense but she didn't understand who the large and scary looking man next to the hazmat suit was. He had a large scar going down his face, a bald head, and a terrifying expression. His arm was metal and he was holding... A gun? Was he holding a gun? The pair stopped in front of Nate’s pod.   
“This is the one.” She heard the Hazmat suit say. The man looked back down the hall.  
“Open it.” a deep and commanding voice spoke. Were these the Vault-Tec doctor's? They didn't look like it. And if they weren't, who were they and why the fuck were they trying to get into the pod that held her newborn baby. The Vault dweller felt a horrifying sickness in the pit of her stomach. Her heartbeat raced and she felt a rush of adrenaline. She raised her weak arm to bang on the window. Nothing. She banged again, harder this time. They both looked back at her briefly before returning their attention to the pod that was opening. Bang, bang, bang. Nothing. The decontamination pod opened fully and Nate fell forward coughing. He was still holding Shawn who was now screaming and crying. She began to bang on the window harder and faster trying to yell even though no sound was coming out.   
“Is it over? Are we ok?” Nate gasped between coughs. It was weird to see him so weak.   
“Almost” The man replied. The hazmat suit began to reach out for Shawn. No no no don’t touch him. Don’t touch my baby. Tears rolled down her face as she tried in vain to push open the pod door. The hazmat suit started to pull Shawn away from Nate but he wasn’t letting go.   
“No no I’ve got him!” Nate yelled as he tried to pull Shawn back towards him.   
“Let the boy go.” Growled the man as he raised and pointed a gun at Nate’s head. She was sobbing and hitting the window of the door so hard it felt as if her hand would break.   
“I’m not giving you Shawn!” Nate screamed. His all too familiar hate and anger was silenced as a deafeningly loud shot ran out and a bullet struck Nate in the head. She fell back in her seat. All the energy drained out of her as her baby was ripped from the arms of her dead husband. Tears were streaming down her face as she watched the hazmat suit walk away with Shawn. Her ears were ringing and Shawn’s screams echoed throughout the hall. Because of this she just barely heard what he said as the murderer came right up to her window to look at her.   
“At least we still have the backup.”

***

She didn't remember falling back asleep. She just remembered it getting colder. When she woke up for the second time her pod door opened. She tried to step out but instead collapsed to the ground bruising on her knees on the hard cold floor. She remembered everything. She tried to push herself off the floor but she couldn’t. She laid there for a while. Crying, screaming, and shaking. After what felt like forever, she began to calm down. Her breathing steadied and her heartbeat slowed. She felt numb, by using this feeling she was able to pick her body up off the floor and turn towards the frozen Nate. These weren’t fucking decontamination pods. The voice that had been coming over the loudspeaker for a while now confirmed that theory. Before she didn't even hear it, but now that she was listening she realized she had been hearing the same message over and over again for at least an hour

“Failure in the cryogenic array. All Vault residents must vacate immediately.” Cryogenic array? Cryogenics… did Vault-Tec fucking freeze them? On purpose? How long?? How long were they stuck in that goddamn ice coffin?? 

“Shit!” She yelled. She looked at the control panel next to Nate’s freeze pod, searching for some sort of open latch. She pulled a large lever and the door lifted open. There they were. Husband and wife, death having done them part. Not in a million years would she have thought that she would live longer than him. Even with his military background and how he constantly got into violent fights with other men, she knew that she didn't have a chance. He made sure she knew that too. Here she was though, standing in front of his dead body. She wanted to cry, she felt sad but she didn't know why. She knew she shouldn't feel bad about his death, but she did. It didn't matter anymore. What did matter is that her son was still out there and she had to find him. 

She closed Nate’s pod and stumbled down the hallway, still weak from the cold. She approached the door that sealed off their cryopod room and struggled to lift the latch that would open the door. She felt sick. The room the door opened to was the room she had remembered walking down with the doctor. She’d trailed meekly behind Nate’s confident stride. Idiotically trusting what the vault doctor said despite the rumors of Vault-Tec’s nefarious agenda. It felt like she was in this hallway not even a few minutes ago… This was insane. There’s no way she was down here for more than a year, maybe two. She kept walking, briefly pausing to glance at another hallway lined with cryo pods. All of her neighbors… She suppressed a gag. She tried to open the door that she originally came through, the one that would lead to the vault entrance, nothing. She went for the one next to it, bingo. Lifting the door she continued onwards. 

In the next hallway, she saw a door and a window looking into one of the rooms. What the fuck. On the window there was a gigantic cockroach. Like, bigger than a cat. Lucky for her it was on the other side of the window separating them. But christ if it was still horrific. She yelped as it lept backwards off the window and scurried out of her line of sight. She whispered a silent prayer that she wouldn’t have to go into that room. Staying as far as possible from the window she made her way towards the door opposite from her. Another hallway, another door. 

“SHIT” She couldn’t help but yell at seeing one of those gigantic cockroaches scuttling around like he owned the place. Of course the roach immediately turned upon hearing her yell and began running towards her with it’s weird little bug mouth clicking. “Fuck fuck fuCK FUCK FUCK” she yelled attempting to run from the slimey villain. It lunged at her and it bit the back of her calf. Out of reflex she spun around and slammed her foot down on it’s head. Gross bug juice splattered everywhere and her urge to vomit was back in full force. After dry heaving and shaking as much of the roach’s guts off of her as she could, she shakily moved on. 

The kitchen of the vault was small and it seemed to be free of roaches so she entered it. Damn she was hungry. She hadn’t had time to eat breakfast before… she couldn’t think about that right now. She scoured the kitchen but there was no food insight. She did find a bathroom however. Crossing her fingers she turned on the faucet which surprisingly still had running water. She scrubbed as much of the disgusting roach goo off of her as she could and continued onwards further. Another room with more roaches… It seemed to be a generator room? One of the generators was spitting bolts of electricity which served as an effective bug zapper killing one of the roaches. She elected to go around the generator rather than play sharks and minnows with the painful looking electricity. Noticing two more roaches, she snuck up behind them and took them out quickly trying not to splatter their guts everywhere. She noticed a skeleton wearing a beat up vault suit on the ground. Is this all that’s left? She thought. She pushed the unwanted picture of a dead world out of her mind and ventured forwards. 

Another door, some stairs, and some roaches. Was radiation from the bombs what did this to them? She dared to drink out of a water fountain before opening yet another door. She didn’t realize how thirsty she was until just now. The door she opened led to another room with a round desk, another door, of course, and a hallway leading to what seemed like someone’s living quarters. Was this the overseer’s room? On the table she noticed some stimpaks and a gun with a box of ammo. Her stomach flipped. She knew how to use a gun. Though she didn't want to, Nate had forced her to learn just in case someone broke into their home while he wasn’t there. She grabbed the stims and hesitated before picking up the gun. She knew she had to take it. I mean she was horrified with the disgusting monster roaches, who knows what else could be outside of the vault. Yeah, she had to, there was no question in that. She slowly reached for the weapons and box of ammo, carefully loading it like she had been taught in the training courses she had taken. She set the gun down for a moment, turning to the terminal to her right. If she was going to get out of here, she would have to know what she was up against. Maybe there was some more information written here. Plus, she wasn't really ready for the reality of having to fire a gun at cat sized cockroaches to set in.

She started up the terminal and begin to look through different files. There seemed to be some instructions on how to run the vault as well as some personal logs from the overseer and a command link to open the door across from her. She looked through the Vault instructions and her suspicions were confirmed. It was always the plan to cryogenically freeze the vault’s residents. Apparently the scientists overseeing the project were supposed to leave after Vault-Tec gave them an “all clear” signal. Something has obviously gone wrong with this however considering the number of skeletons scattered throughout the vault. Reading further, she was able to determine that some sort of revolt had occurred against the overseer. She wondered how long it took dead bodies to degrade to bone-dry skeletons. Maybe a year... Yeah… She also read an interesting entry about something called a cryolator. Apparently it was a portable cryogenic freezer in the form of a gun. It was of no use to her now but down the road, who knows. She made a mental note. Finally she opened the evacuation tunnel picked up her gun and started creeping towards what was hopefully the exit of this frozen graveyard. The bad luck didn’t cease though ast he hallway she walked into was filled with 5 more roaches. 

“Just like the bottles you shot in practice. Stay calm…” she muttered to herself. She aimed at a roach crawling on the wall and pulled the trigger. Guts splattered everywhere and the gunshot from her gun was ringing in her ears painfully. Obviously this shot alerted all the other roaches in the room and they began to scurry towards her. In a panic she tried to shoot at them. It was difficult when they were all moving. She shot two but had to stomp on the rest. Once again she was covered with bug guts and all she could hear was the ringing in her ears. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to shoot a gun in such close echo-y quarters. She walked back into the room and towards the overseers office to take a quick shower. The water was freezing but there was no way she was going to walk around like this. 

Being in the shower was good and bad. It was refreshing but the cold water shocked her back to reality. She felt sick again. She tried to keep her thoughts in check but it was a fruitless effort. Though she suspected it was a few years, she really had no way of knowing how long she’d been down there. Her baby and Nate were taken from her. What if there was really no one left? The thought was ridiculous, Shawn was out there. And since she saw his kidnappers she could only assume that other people were still alive. She was also worried about what kind of people and monsters could be waiting for her out there. Maybe not much if it had only been a few years but she had read a lot of comics describing terrifying theories on irradiated animals. Those were comics though… There's no way any of that kind of stuff could be real. For all she knew maybe the military had come in to save the day while she was trapped down there. Yeah, yeah there could definitely still be society and order. Maybe those people who had taken her baby were just criminals. Yeah... if she kept thinking of it maybe she would be able to convince herself of it. After scrubbing herself down once more to make sure she was completely clean she turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. Her stomach growled reminding her how hungry she was. She had to get out of here. She grabbed her dirty vault suit and gun and continued onwards.

Through the hallway full of dead bugs and then finally to the vault’s entrance she remembered entering through just an hour or so before. She made sure her gun was loaded before shooting what she hoped was the last cockroach for a while. As she approached the Box doors controls she noticed a Pip-Boy around a skeleton's hand. She remembered hearing about those and how they were basically portable computers. Vault-Tec’s advertisements had included a lot of talk about how if you signed up for a vault, in the event of total atomic annihilation, you would get a Pip-Boy when you “arrived home”. She decided to take it not only to open the door but to appease her own curiosity. Another cockroach wriggled out from under it as she stepped toward the skeleton. 

“GOD FUCKING-” She yelled as she shot the abomination of nature. Okay, now THAT was the last one. Hopefully. She cautiously reached down and grabbed the Pip-Boy. She wiped off the dust and started it up. The computer ran a bunch of incomprehensible text across the screen which was soon replaced with the Vault Boy giving a big thumbs up. For some unknown reason it didn’t actually make her feel any better about the situation. She inspected the overgrown watch and found there was a plug that could be pulled out. She then looked to the control panel of the vault door. Most of the buttons and dials were unhelpful but she noticed that there was an outlet that her Pip-Boy may be able to plug into. She tried it and the case covering the big red button that sat adjacent popped open. Usually in every comic or movie ever, the big red button was the one you probably shouldn’t press. She had no idea what else to do though so she pushed it. Alarms began sounding as the gear shaped metal door of the vault scraped open. 

The sickness in her stomach became more intense. She had no idea what to expect but despite trying to convince herself otherwise, something told her it would’nt be good.

“Please let everything be okay.” she whispered to the cold, stale air. She walked onto the know fully extended bridge, descended the stairs she had just walked up an hour ago, and stood on the platform that would bring her to the surface.


	2. Project Wanderer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deacon meets the sole survivor, well, sort of.

Sanctuary Hills, the name certainly held up. Out of all of the places Deacon had visited in the Commonwealth, this small neighborhood tucked in the outskirts of the civilized region had to be his favorite. Most of the houses and furniture inside were the same as they had been since the bombs dropped. Of course they were much dustier and toppled over and all that but in this world you take what you can get. The untouched factor of the small neighborhood was somewhat due to how out of the way it was. There was also the fact that an old Mr.Handy first warned and then sliced and diced anyone who tried to raid the neighborhood. Due to his warnings before attacking, Deacon had always assumed he would be friendly as long as you weren’t trying to mess with the neighborhood. Having never confirmed this fact, however, he wasn’t too inclined to test it. Nah, instead when he visited this little slice of untouched paradise he would elect to go up the hill behind the neighborhood to a little makeshift shack. He usually came here to watch the sunset or rise. Occasionally, when he was lucky enough to find some pre-war reading material he hadn’t already scoured, he would bring it here to read. It was always quiet here. No gunshots, no yelling, and no people to hide from. It was almost relaxing, almost. There was one thing about this paradise that kept Deacon on edge. The vault. 

Yup, just below his shack on the hill above the quiet little neighborhood was Vault 111. Here’s the kicker though, it had never been opened. Well, not officially. No resident had ever come in or out. Deacon choosing this spot at the top of the hill wasn’t a random decision. He’d heard of the unopened vault and coincidently there was rumored institute activity around there a while back. Deacon had visited the Vault-Tec regional HQ to see if he could get any more information. He found out that Vault-Tec had a shit ton of liquid nitrogen delivered to 111 before the bombs dropped. That was… interesting to say the least. Deacon had his theories on what could’ve happened inside based on all the other fucked up vault experiments and if he was right, well, it could be very good for him and the Railroad.

There were a few times when Deacon had pondered telling Dez about the Vault. He knew he could convince her to make it a Railroad priority to open it. After all, if the Railroad could be the first to breach that vault if nothing else they might find some gnarly pre-war tech that could help against their seemingly endless battle with The Institute. In the end though, he decided against it. He had dropped a few hints about his “Project Wanderer” but if he was being honest, this was his personal project and he was selfish. So now, not having access to a working Pip-Boy, he played the waiting game. 

Today Deacon had come to watch the sunrise. Though he finished this task about three hours ago he was still in Sanctuary at a little after 9 am. He sighed, knowing he’d have to return to his boring, albeit important, Railroad duties quite soon. After working up the energy to tear his eyes away from the Vault, he gathered his comics and his sniper rifle. Just as he was about to clamber down the hill, he heard it. A screeching cacophony of metal against metal coming from the direction of the vault. 

“Holy shit!” He hissed. Immediately he dropped back down crouching behind the wall of his short-of shack. Aiming the scope of his sniper rifle to where the vault entrance was, he held his breath. The screeching paused for a moment before starting back up again. The gear-shaped platform which had previously disappeared into the ground was now rising. Deacon could see the figure of a woman in a vault suit standing alone in the middle of the platform. She was holding a gun and through his scope he could tell she had been crying. She stumbled forwards from the metal on to the dirt. She looked out over Sanctuary for a moment and then heaved until she threw up. Oof… Guess she hadn’t expected the outside to look like, well, a wasteland. He could see her shaking and sobbing now. He felt bad watching her while she obviously thought she was alone with her grief, but he needed to make sure she at least made it past Sanctuary’s protective Mr.Handy. He followed her with the scope of his rifle as she weakly lifted herself up from her kneeling position and made her way down the path from the vault to sanctuary. To his surprise, when she turned and saw the Mr.Handy trimming the dead bushes of its favorite house she took off running towards it. Shit he thought. Deacon made sure his crosshair was on the robot as she approached it, ready to step in if things went sideways. For some reason though, it didn’t attack, she threw her arms around it and started sobbing once more. Was his theory correct? If she knew this Mr.Handy then maybe she really was frozen pre-war. He needed to think. Since she was not in any danger and both she and the Mr.Handy were distracted he snuck away down the side of the hill.

The next time he saw her was a couple days later in Diamond City. He had been tracking her movements through the commonwealth and noticed she was heading in this direction. At the moment he was posing as Diamond City Security right inside Danny Sulivan’s booth. Piper was yelling through Danny’s speaker about how she lived here and he couldn’t keep her out. Mayor McDonough was pacing angrily just inside the Wall behind the gate that Piper was trying so desperately to get through. If his timing was right, the vault dweller should be arriving any minute. This was going to be interesting. Piper’s yelling suddenly quieted until after about a minute when she loudly stated, 

“What was that? You’re a trader up from Quincy? You have enough supplies to keep the general store stocked for a month? Huh…” She paused for what Deacon could only assume was dramatic effect, “You hear that Danny? You gonna open the gate and let us in or are you gonna be the one talking to crazy Myrna about losing out on all this supply?” Danny’s face contorted with suspicion and worry before he gave in. 

“Geez, all right.” He sighed, “No need to make it personal Piper… Give me a minute.” McDonough turned around to give Danny the most offended look ever before returning to his position, readying himself to yell at Piper. It was such an awful lie that Deacon had to hold back a chuckle. He was able to warp his mirthful grin into a sympathetic one as he and Danny shared a look. Now for the good part. He positioned himself to where he was able to see both the reporter and the (assumed) vaultie. 

As soon as he saw her his breath caught in his throat. It was definitely her but seeing her up close was way different than watching her through his sniper scope. She looked like a model in one of those old prewar magazines. She wasn’t hardened with muscles and she didn’t look half-starved like most everyone in the commonwealth did. She was curvy and she looked soft, really soft. He couldn’t help but notice how she had also ditched the vault suit in favor of some tight road leathers. Shit, he could stare at her for hours. He was glad that Danny was focused on the Mayor and Piper rather than him because he definitely felt how hot his cheeks were right now. 

As Deacon usually does, he worked hard to suffocate these feelings in favor of focusing on something else such as the Soap Opera unfolding before him. He made it a point to keep his eyes off of her, even if she couldn’t see them. He returned his focus to Piper as she responded to McDonough’s sputtering complaints.

“-that a statement McDonough? “Tyrant mayor shuts down the press!” Piper sarcastically spat. She turned to the vault dweller, “Why don't we ask the newcomer, do you support the news? Because the mayor is threatening to throw free speech in the dumpster!” She crossed her arms and leaned back waiting for the woman to respond.

Surprisingly she remained cool in this argument she had been thrust into the center of. She smiled sweetly at Piper before replying.

“Always believed in freedom of the press.” He tried to ignore how her smile made her eyes shine and how melodic her voice sounded as she immediately charmed her way out of any annoyance the mayor may have towards her due to her answer.

The mayor began to blubber bullshit about how she was “Diamond City Material” but Deacon was tuning out. Why couldn’t he stop staring at her? Maybe he was just trying to count all her freckles. Yeah, that must be it. He had to remember what she looked like for his project! Not that he thinks he’ll ever be able to forget how her hips moved as she shifted on her feet. Or how soft and smooth her skin looked on that little strip he could see above the waistband of her pants but below the bottom of her leather jacket. He felt something unrecognized in the pit of his stomach. It felt like falling but in a good way. He realized he was gawking when Danny nudged him in the ribs wearing a nervous but knowing grin. He quickly replaced his mask with a mischievous smirk of his own before returning his attention to the vault dweller who seemed to be approaching them. He ducked back behind the door frame and Danny returned to his post. The vault dweller approached Danny and began apologizing in that sickly sweet voice of hers. Danny was stumbling over his words and blushing trying to let her know that it was all right. Deacon was trying really hard (and mostly failing at) not staring at her ass. God dammit man what the fuck is wrong with you??

“You aren’t the first person Piper pulled into a heap of trouble they weren't ready for.” He smiled sheepishly and they exchanged pleasantries before the vaultie turned to leave. She jumped as she hadn’t seen Deacon standing there. 

“Oh! Hi there.” She smiled a little embarrassed from so obviously being startled. Deacon’s voice caught as he scrambled for a normal-sounding response. 

“Hey, uh, Welcome to the, uh, Great Green Jewel. You’ll totally love it here.” He stammered with the grace of a brahmin. She thanked him, questions hidden behind her polite smile before she walked away. God. Fucking. Dammit. Deacon. He hadn’t expected her to turn around let alone address him but did he really have to be so insanely awkward just then? He was really off his game today… Danny raised an eyebrow and Deacon, trying to smooth out the wrinkles in his crumbling disguise shrugged and said, 

“What can I say, I’m only human.” He grinned at Danny and Danny chuckled.

“I hear ya, what I wouldn’t give…” The younger boy trailed off. Why did the way he said it make Deacon’s chest tighten? He almost felt… angry? No, no way that was stupid. Man he had to get out of this great green hellhole. This place must be what’s putting him off. After all, if there’s anywhere in the Commonwealth the Institute has infiltrated, it’s Diamond City. He casually ducked out of Danny’s booth and sauntered out the still-open front gate. He’d have his tourists keep an eye out for her for a few days. Right now he needed a break.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If y’all haven’t already heard Tongues and Teeth by The Crane Wives go listen to it! It fucking slaps and the lyrics are totally Deacon to the SS.


	3. Intervention

“Where are you off to this time?” Dez sighed, knowing she wasn’t going to get a real answer. Her eyes were tired and it seemed as if she gained more grey hairs every day. 

“I’m so sorry to leave so soon Dez but I think I left the oven on and my cat’s still home! I don’t know what I would do if Lil Carrington were to have to fight off a fire all by himself!” Deacon feigned panic as Desdemona rolled her eyes. HQ was pretty quiet at the moment as Glory was out on a mission and most of the rest of HQ’s few inhabitants were sleeping. Deacon knew that Desdemona was worried about him. He’d been a lot more absent from HQ than usual and considering the amount of stress everyone had been under lately, Dez had wanted him around to lighten the mood. He felt bad. He knew his main focus should be on official Railroad missions and morale boosting but the vaultie was so bad at keeping herself alive. She had escaped a good many bad situations based on her charisma and luck alone. And if she was as good of an asset as Deacon was hoping, it was worth shirking some of his duties to focus on her. 

“Come back sooner rather than later,” it was more of a tired request than a firm instruction. A pang of guilt ran through Deacon as he sympathetically nodded before slipping out the back door.

Since Deacon had seen her in Diamond City, he’d been keeping eyes and ears out for her a lot more. He just needed to make sure that she didn’t die before she found the Railroad and he could keep a closer eye on her. Right now she was traveling with Nick Valentine the Detective. Deacon had pieced together a story from different things he’d heard from his tourists, The Publik Occurrences newspaper, and various drifters, settlers, and Diamond City residents. She was apparently looking for Nick in order to find her infant son who she suspected had been kidnapped by the Institute. She had found out where Nick had been captured from his secretary and she was somehow able to get him out. Piper’s newspaper had also confirmed his vault-sicle theory. She really was prewar. Deacon always was a sucker for pre-war relics. As far as he knew, they hadn’t found anything substantial on her son yet but she was adamant about not only finding the child, but going all over the Commonwealth to help settlements and individuals for no benefit of her own. It was amazingly kind and insanely dangerous. 

Deacon had been trailing her a lot more frequently since she began to get more brave and traverse more dangerous areas of the Commonwealth. Right now he was following her as she was running another errand for a settlement, someplace called The Slog. They’d been having a problem with some Super Mutants and Deacon had learned that she’d promised to help them after running an errand in diamond city. Deacon found her just outside the wall, without Valentine. This worried him. Was she really planning on taking out a super mutant camp by herself? Man, he’d have a lot to teach her once she joined the railroad. On her way to the camp she fought off a couple of packs of mongrels and the occasional feral. This was pretty normal for a trip across the commonwealth and even though she had only exited the vault a couple months ago but she was surprisingly good at fighting. She seemed to scan her opponents with her Pip-Boy as well. The last time Deacon had his hands on a working Pip-Boy was a hell of a long time ago so he couldn’t quite remember any kind of combat feature that came with them but that could be a reason she was fighting so well.

He supposed it was kinda creepy. Following her around like this? I mean it’s not like he was bothering her and he was just scouting out a possible agent for the Railroad so maybe it was ok. Eh, he didn’t know. What he did know is that he was glad he was following her because she was currently approaching the mutant camp by herself. Dammit. He laid down with his sniper rifle on a hill nearby so he could watch her through the scope. He’d be lying if he said a small slice of anxiety pie didn’t start to slip past the clenched jaw that was the barricade he held his emotions in. He was a known liar though, so he lied to himself about the reason why.

She started to sneak towards the camp, aiming her gun at one of the mutants but before she could fire the first shot one of the mutant hounds caught her scent. It raised it’s head to the sky and howled to alert the camp of the vaultie’s position. She cringed at the loud alarm and went off running to find a better cover. She found a car to hide behind but was quickly tackled by the first mutant hound that had noticed her. She put about five rounds in it’s head before it finally collapsed on top of her. Blood and brains everywhere. Deacon scanned her through his scope and noticed that it had sliced her with its claws pretty bad. The anxiety pie tasted like shit. 

She heaved the beast off of her and quickly looked for her next target, a fast approaching super mutant. This mutant was yelling and waving around a spiked board. She began to fire at it but most of her shots were missing. She may have been bleeding more than she looked like she was. As she cycled through dodging, shooting, and running from the mutant Deacon heard his 3rd least favorite sound ever. The beeping of a super mutant suicider. He jolted his scope away from her and toward the source of the sound. The suicider was preparing to run towards the vaultie as his cohorts offered supporting fire. Deacon looked back to her, she didn’t hear it. She was too busy trying to fend off the mutant with the board. Fuck. He shouldn’t get involved but if he did nothing she would die. 

As she was running from the surprisingly resilient mutant, she tripped on a piece of rubble and smacked her head on the pavement. Fuck fuck fuck should he do something? She looked dazed and quickly turned over to the mutant towering above her. He slammed the spikes down into her thigh and she cried out in pain. That noise made Deacon’s decision for him. He steadied his heavy breathing and aimed for the suicider’s bomb. It was still far enough away that the explosion wouldn’t hurt her but it would take out most of the super mutants still at the camp. Deacon fired and immediately clenched his eyes shut so he wouldn’t be blinded by the explosion. As he had predicted, the blast took out most of the mutants and distracted the one about to kill the vaultie. Deacon used this distraction to put one in the head of the board mutant and the Vaultie yelped as it fell to the ground before her. She looked confused and as she tried to sit up and find where the bullets were coming from. Deacon couldn’t focus on her for long though as two more mutants were still looking to take vengeance on the puny human who had killed their brothers. One began to run towards her as the other fired from behind. She tried to crawl further behind the car she was next to but it was clear that she wasn’t going to be able to fight back. Dammit, he was gonna have to do everything by himself. 

Deacon first focused on the mutant running at her. He fired a shot in its leg causing it to collapse just before it reached her. She didn’t seem to notice though. She was weakly applying pressure to her thigh and she seemed to be on the brink of consciousness. The mutant started to get back up but Deacon quickly put an end to him by shooting him once in the throat. The mutant gurgled a cry out as blood poured from his wound. He definitely could’ve shot it in the head to kill it immediately, but something about the way the vaultie’s breaths were getting shorter and the pool of blood she was sitting in was getting bigger made him want the mutant to suffer more. The other living mutant had stopped firing at the car the vaultie was behind and had begun firing in Deacon’s general direction. The dumb brute had seemed to finally figure out that he was the one who was slaughtering them. His shots at Deacon were useless however. His weapon was short ranged and inaccurate. Plus, it’s not like he could see Deacon. No, he was way too good of a sniper for that to be a problem. One more shot to the head was all it took for the camp to be completely wiped out. 

Deacon turned his scope back towards the vaultie who, in simple terms, was not looking good. She was barely breathing and her arm, which was previously trying to stop the excessive bleeding from her leg, had gone limp at her side. He needed to do something but he couldn’t break his cover, not now. Shit… I mean, she was barely conscious. Who’s to say she would even remember it if he stimpaked her and left? Yeah, that’s what he’d do. She’d be fine, he’d be fine, everything would be fine. He hoisted his rifle onto his back and jogged down the hill he had been perched on. When he got to her she was mumbling incoherently. He assessed the damage to her leg and quickly realized it was a lot worse than he thought. 

“H-helluh.. blease helb me…” She slurred. She was facing him but her eyes weren’t focused. She had lost way too much blood. Fuck this was getting way too complicated. He decided to carefully pick her up and carry her towards the mutant camp. He knew that it used to be a small settlement so there was a chance it might have some more supplies than what Deacon had on him. 

“Alright, I’m gonna pick you up ok? I need to find some more supplies to help you.”

“Mmmkay” She cooed, if the situation wasn’t so fucked up it would’ve been kind of cute. Deacon lifted the vaultie off the ground and she wrapped her arms around his neck as he carried her. He tried to ignore how much he liked it because holy shit Deacon why the fuck are you enjoying this she’s about to bleed out. 

Deacon climbed the stairs to the main shack of the camp. Luckily there was a mattress and a medkit inside. He gently laid her down on the bed before searching the medkit. It held a stimpak, blood pack, and a half full bottle of hydrogen peroxide. Now there’s something you don’t find everyday. All of that paired with the stim he already had on him were sure to be enough to help her. He uncapped the peroxide and muttered an apology before pouring some on her leg as well as a bit on the visible slashes the mutant hound had gifted her. She cried out in pain and he mentally punched himself for doing that to her even if it was ultimately for her benefit. After that he used both stimpaks to help the wounds close so that she would bleed less. Finally he used the blood pack to replenish some of the blood she’d lost. By this point she had fallen asleep which was all the better for Deacon. He hadn’t wanted to meet her here like this and he was hoping she wouldn’t remember any of this when she woke up. 

He was exhausted from the stress of the situation. He didn’t understand why he was so interested in the well-being of this vault dweller. He could tell himself it was because of what she could offer to the railroad but he knew in his stupid heart that it was something more personal. For now he would just leave her here to rest. He needed a goddamn drink and where better was there to drink than Goodneighbor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took so long! I've been very busy with work and school but I'm trying to hop back on the bandwagon. :) Please send me writing and drawing requests on my Tumblr @Nuka-Coola


	4. Waking Up

When she woke up she was lying on a dirty mattress in what looked, and smelled, like a super mutant camp. Not having remembered how she got there she bolted upright and immediately fell back down. Fuck that hurt… Her whole body ached and she felt exhausted. She was also in a decent amount of pain, most of which was radiating from her leg. What happened? Wasn’t she helping out The Slog? Yeah yeah that sounds right. She was going to Breakheart Banks to take care of some mutants. She was already here though, and as she slowly sat up and surveyed her surroundings, there were no mutants to be seen. She did notice a couple of body parts and a lot of gore scattered and splattered everywhere but she was trying to ignore it. She may’ve been in the wastes for a few months now but she didn’t think she would ever be able to get used to the amount of death and dismemberment that went on here. 

She still couldn’t remember quite how she got here but as she thought more bits and pieces of the prior events began to return to her mind. She had made it to the camp, obviously, and she had tried to sneak up on the mutants. It hadn’t worked and she had been quite outnumbered. She remembered the mutant that had knocked her down and slammed a spiked board into her knee. Ouch… she looked down at the leg responsible for most of her current discomfort. It was healed? But how? She didn’t remember stimming herself and if it had healed naturally she would’ve had to have been lying there for months. Did someone help her? It was definitely possible. She didn’t remember anything after that mutant impaling her and there’s no way she would’ve been strong enough to kill all of these things after that unless someone else had done it for her. She pushed the dull ache of her damaged and tired body into the back of her mind and began to look for something that could clue her into who her savior was. She immediately noticed two empty stims, an empty blood pack, and an empty bottle of hydrogen peroxide on the shack floor next to her. Well that explains how goddamn tired she was. She must’ve been pretty messed up for the person who patched her up to have used two stimpaks. She looked around a bit more and found that her backpack was thrown on the ground a few feet away from the mattress. It had a good bit of dried blood on it but since the bag was black she was sure with a bit of elbow grease she could scrub most of the obvious copper stain out. 

Finding nothing more of interest in the small wooden shack she painfully sat up and walked to grab her bag. Her wounds may have been healed but she was still very sore and very tired. She descended the rickety stairs to try to find her gun. She found it in in a pool of dried blood next to a dead super mutant. She tried to ignore the body as she carefully and disgustedly picked up her gun. She knew it was most likely her own blood but it still freaked her out a bit. She hostlered it until she could find something to clean it off with. She was officially done with this camp and all of the confusion and grief it had caused her. She still hadn’t found out who had helped her, which was bothering her immensely, but for the moment all she wanted to do was check back in with the Slog and end this horrible job. After that it was straight to Goodneighbor where she could get a stiff drink and maybe bug Hancock for drugs and/or sex.

***

About two days later Deacon was still in Goodneighbor. He knew that he should’ve gone back to HQ by now but he really wasn’t looking foward to Dez railing (heh) him with questions or Carrington complaining about the lack of “real” missions he’d been going on lately. He knew it was irresponsible and shitty to stay here but he decided today he was gonna be irresponsible and shitty. Picking up one of the many pre-war books he had collected over the years from his bag. He was leaning on the wall in between Kill or be Killed and Daisy’s Discounts reading when he saw her come through the Goodneighbor gates. He had made sure she would recover fine before he left but, he was still a little more than glad to see her alive and safe. His shades allowed him to discreetly watch her while he feigned reading. She looked very tired and a little roughed up but otherwise she seemed pretty alright. Deacon watched as she walked towards the door of the Old State House. Was she going to see Hancock? He had heard rumors of what those two’s relationship had become since the vaultie first day in Goodneighbor but he had decided to keep telling himself they were just rumors. It’s not that it would be bad if she was close with Hancock. I mean, he worked side by side with the Railroad. It would be good if she was close with someone who supported their cause. No, the reason Deacon tried to ignore these rumors was… different. He could probably realize what it was if he thought about it for a few minutes, or a few seconds... but he very much did not want to do that.

She opened the door to the Old State house. Deacon’s chest tightened when she disappeared into the building and he found himself thoughtlessly walking over to his favorite disguise changing alley in Goodneighbor. When he was sure no one else was around he grabbed his Triggerman outfit out of a tipped over trash can in the back corner of the alley. He had marked it with a small line of chalk but this was rather unnecessary as changing his look and remembering his hiding places for different disguises was as easy as counting to three at this point. He quickly stripped his flannel and jeans in order to don the black vest and fedora ensemble. After exchanging his pipe rifle for a submachine gun, he quickly hid his extra clothes and made his way towards the Old State House. Upon entering he casually strode up the spiral staircase and leaned against the door frame opposite Hancock’s office. He was barely given a glance by the other guards which was fine by him. Deacon was standing there for less than a minute when the door to Hancock’s office creaked open. Fahrenheit stepped out and the Triggermen, including Deacon, all quickly straightened up. She closed the door behind her and clomped heavily down the stairs with an exasperated sigh. That pretty much confirmed it. A couple of the Triggermen chuckled and some made crude jokes about why Fahrenheit had stepped out. Deacon took their distracted banter as an opportunity to slip out of the room and out of the house as a whole. He decided that he would go back to HQ after all. Not before getting a stiff drink to push down the anger and jealousy that he was feeling now though. Wait no, no, he wasn’t jealous or angry. No that would be stupid. He was just worried for his possible future coworker. Hancock wasn’t known for being the most responsible or safe when it came to, well, anything really. The vaultie was new to this world and she could be an important asset. He was just worried about her health or whatever. Yeah… He was still gonna get that drink though.

He opened the door leading into the Third Rail. Magnolia’s voice echoed up the stairs as he passed Ham with a nod. He descended the stairs and headed straight to Whitechapel Charlie.

“Ah ‘Mike’ back again are we?” Charlie’s tone was dripping with sarcasm. He’s one of the few people in Goodneighbor who knows who Deacon actually is. Well, “knows who he actually is” is a bit of a strong statement. Charlie knows that Deacon really goes by Deacon. He also sees through all of Deacon’s disguises. A while back he had tried to report Deacon to Hancock, worrying that he was a bit too shady, even for Goodneighbor. Thankfully, Hancock, who was another person who knew Deacon’s identity, had let Charlie know that Deacon is fine and that Charlie is to pretend he is none the wiser to Deacon’s disguises. Hancock is an annoying, reckless junkie, but he was always sympathetic to the Railroad’s beliefs and helpful in letting them operate in Goodneighbor undetected.

“Sure am, Chuck. Got something strong?” He smiled sitting down on a stool across from the metal bartender. 

“If ya got the caps I can getcha a couple shots of vodka.” He replied, one eye scanning the shelves behind him.

“Sounds perfect.” Deacon agreed, counting out and handing him a handful of caps. Charlie got to fixing the drink and Deacon waited by watching Magnolia sing. He remembered when they first found her. She had somehow survived an entire month out of the institute with coursers on her tail the whole time. She had actually tracked down the Railroad herself. When she found them, she asked to be helped with her courser problem but strangely enough, she didn’t want the mind wipe and she absolutely refused to leave the commonwealth. There were doubts as to whether or not she was a spy, but eventually after a long discussion with Dez and a long time hiding out, she was able to be trusted and helped into a new life. Deacon was taken from his thoughts when Charlie roughly set down two shots of vodka in front of him. 

“Enjoy,” he muttered, walking, or rather hovering away. Deacon downed the first shot and then the second. Fire burned his throat and he let out a small cough before waiting for the alcohol to set in. His thoughts drifted back to the vaultie. He again tried to ignore them. It wouldn’t do him any good to mull over what she could be doing right now. Maybe he would order another shot and just leave tomorrow.


End file.
